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JOHN D. CHEEVER, NEYV YORK, N. Y.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 285,343, dated September 18, 1883.

Application filed August 27, 1883.. (No specimens) To wZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN D. CHEEVER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Covers for Floors and for other Purposes, by which flexible and durable imitations of porcelain, mosaic work, marble, slate, and wood tiles are made; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. i

Flexible covers for floors are made by spreading on sheets of canvas, .burlaps, and paper various plastic water-proof mixtures, and after the coatings are sufficiently set, dried, or hard ened designs in colors are printed on them by means of engraved wood blocks and paints composed of drying-oils and colored pigments. As these colors and the designs they form are superficial, they .soon wear off at those parts most exposed and conspicuous, leaving only a mottled unsightly surface. 7

To remedy these defects and provide a durable body with improved execution of designs or patterns which will not become erased nor altered before the .whole fabrichas been destroyed are the objects of my invention.

The plastic material I employ is the product prepared by the processes fully described in United States Letters Patent granted to me March 7, 1882, numbered 254,465. The product is formed by the chemical action of subchloride or protochloride of sulphur or mixtures of siccative oils with what is called by natives of Central America pickumgum and products derived from petroleum, as vaseand tint, having the coloring-pigments uniformly mixed throughout their length and thickness, are cut or stamped into pieces of shapes required for adjustment to. form desired patterns or designs. The parts are joined firmly at their edges by a strong and durable water-proof cement.

The whole fabric, when completed, may be attached 011 one side to'canvas, burlaps, prepared paper, or other suitable sheets by cement of the same qualities as that used for joining the edges of the sections.

A good cement is made by dissolving eighty parts ofgutta-perchaand twenty parts of caoutchouc in bisulphide of carbon,benzole,or naphtha.

The manufacture of the fabrics may be conveniently and more economically carried on by first joining the smaller pieces into sections of an area convenient to handle and then arranging these so as to complete a large sheet a tion of the solvent of the cement, and to insure perfect adhesion of the parts and uniformity of the whole surface. Finally, the sheets may be rolled into scrolls for convenience of transportation.

AlthoughI have confined the description of my improvement to the use of the product described in the Letters Patent designated, I do not desire to limit my claim specially to its use, as other plastic compounds capable of being ground with colored pigments and calendere d may be substituted for it.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

A flexible cover for floors and for other purposes, made by cutting small sections from sheets of plastic compounds of various colors, having colored pigments throughout their thickness, and cementing the pieces together, so asto form a sheet resembling porcelain, mosaic work, marble,- slate, and wood tiles;

In testimony whereof I afix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN D, CHEEVER. \Vitnesses:

\V. L. CANDEE, VICTOR E. BURKE. 

